Is the ‘People’s Climate Plan’ a government initiative?

No, the People’s Climate Plan is a collaboration between individuals and non-government organizations that are interested in impacting the federal government’s national climate plan to include justice and science based policy for a new renewable energy economy.

What is the government’s involvement with the People’s Climate Plan?

The People’s Climate Plan team is in contact with the Department of Environment and Climate Change to give and receive useful information that would create the conditions for meaningful climate change consultations to occur. The People’s Climate Plan team encourages the government to demonstrate a meaningful consultation process by asking MPs to host climate townhalls in each riding. We also call on MPs to collect input from participants at the townhall, and ensure all input is fed into the federal process for developing a national climate policy. The relationship between our team and the government is one of setting expectations and ensuring accountability.

What is the purpose of the People’s Climate Plan initiative?

The People’s Climate Plan is a collaboration between individuals and organizations that want to impact the federal government’s national climate plan to include justice-based and science-based policy for a new, renewable energy economy. It is a demand for bold climate action from federal representatives. We are organizing en masse to speak up at consultations and hold our government accountable to a national climate plan that works for the people and the planet. In the Fall, we will hold rallies and mobilizations across the country to send the government a powerful message in support of bold climate action. Check out the video on our homepage for more background on this campaign.

How can I get involved with the People’s Climate Plan?

There’s many ways to get involved! First and foremost, check our map and sign up to speak up for the People’s Climate Plan at a climate consultation in your community. Can’t find a consultation in your community? You can sign up to pledge support for the People’s Climate Plan and get updates about events happening in your region. You can also sign up to be a riding lead to help organize an event in your community. Another great way to contribute is by amplifying calls on social media, writing letters to the editor, encouraging people in traditional media to cover this issue, talking about it with family and friends, or using any of your skills and connections to comment on climate change and our government’s responsibility to act boldly and quickly.

When will the consultations go until? What happens after townhalls are over?

Most consultations will take place from May to August 2016 with a few spilling over into September. After the consultations, the People’s Climate Plan team is working with people and groups across the country to organize a mass mobilization around the announcement of the national climate strategy — this will likely happen near the next Premiers Meeting, which will tentatively be held in October 2016.

Getting involved with townhalls:

What if there is no climate townhall being held in my riding?

If your riding is not on the map for a consultation the first course of action is to contact your Member of Parliament to ask for one! Click to call your MP. You can get in touch with the People’s Climate Plan team to let us know you asked for one and we will follow up with more pressure. Contact us at inquiriespeoplesclimate@gmail.com. Ideally, this would prompt your MP to host a townhall.

What if my MP refuses to host a townhall?

If your MP refuses to host a consultation, you may want to host a community event, yourself, to build awareness and desire for action in your community. This could be something as formal as a townhall, or could take other forms such as a lobby day, a letter-writing party, or simply a meeting. You may choose to invite your MP to your event.

Connect to the People’s Climate Plan team (e-mail us at inquiriespeoplesclimate@gmail.com) to see if anyone in your community has already started something you can join. Let the national team know that your MP has refused as they will be tracking refusals across the country in order to help coordinate next steps. Hold onto your disappointment — we will be holding the government accountable to a truly democratic process for constituents, and to a high level of ambition in the climate strategy unveiled this Fall.

What do I need to do to prepare for a climate townhall?

There may be an orientation meeting set up beforehand by local organizers to get people ready and excited for the consultation — check out details about the orientation on the event page for your townhall. You can also practice what you’re going to say beforehand. We recommend telling your story about why you’re passionate about climate action and connecting it to the three main principles of the campaign. The People’s Climate Plan team will have stickers to hand out at the meeting, which you can wear on your clothing to show that you are part of the movement for justice, science, and a renewable energy economy. Other than that, simply come with your enthusiasm and ideas (and a smartphone to take pictures and use social media of course with #PeoplesClimatePlan!)

What if the townhall I want to attend is full?

You may find that if you RSVP to your MP’s office that they will tell you the consultation is full. We encourage people to show up anyways to demonstrate the sheer numbers of people that wish to be consulted on climate change, and at every townhall so far, no one has been turned away. The overflow of people has always been accommodated!

What will happen to feedback collected at the town halls?

Feedback from the town halls is intended to be collected and fed into the Department of Environment and Climate Change. MPs may ask note-takers to put the information into an interactive web portal hosted by the federal government to collect “ideas” about climate change. Take note of whether there is formal information collection at all during the consultations. We encourage people to be critical of how the government is being accountable to people from these consultations and to keep a record as much as possible of the key points and themes that have emerged from people present.